President Reagan delivers his first (and only) major speech on AIDS.

Basketball legend Magic Johnson announces his HIV diagnosis.

The AIDS Quilt was displayed on the National Mall in Washington DC for the first time.

Tom Hanks wins an Oscar for best actor in Philadelphia.

Protease Inhibitors/the Triple Cocktail, developed by Dr. David Ho, were made widely available.

AZT was approved by the FDA.

President Reagan says "AIDS" in public for the first time (in response to a question at a press conference)

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

"Your problem, Henry, is that you are hung up on words, on labels, that you believe they mean what they seem to mean. AIDS. Homosexual. Gay. Lesbian. You think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps with, but they don't tell you that. No. Like all labels they tell you one thing and one thing only: where does an individual so identified fit in the food chain, in the pecking order? Not ideology, or sexual taste, but something much simpler: clout. Not who I fuck or who fucks me, but who will pick up the phone when I call, who owes me favors. This is what a label refers to. Now to someone who does not understand this, homosexual is what I am because I have sex with men. But really this is wrong. Homosexuals are not men who sleep with other men. Homosexuals are men who in fifteen years of trying cannot get a pissant antidiscrimination bill through the City Council. Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout. Does this sound like me, Henry?"

This autobiographical play, written by Larry Kramer, was produced in 1985 and documents the anger, loss, and community organizing of the early years of the epidemic.

The Experience

Created by Theatre Rhinoceros 

[MAUREEN]:

ACT UP

With leaders such as Mathilde Krim, Joseph Sonnabend, and Elizabeth Taylor, ____ has been dedicated to raising funds to support scientific and medical research for HIV/AIDS, often merging science and celebrity powers.

Established in 1982 in response to government inaction against HIV, _____ provided such vital services as a hotline run from a member's living room. Its early years were depicted in The Normal Heart, a play written by one of its founding members.